Ogoni people

On January 30, 2013, the court (Rechtbank) in the Hague, The Netherlands, ruled that Royal Dutch Shell can be held partially responsible for pollution in Nigeria’s Niger Delta region and ordered it to pay damages to one farmer. The Dutch court dismissed four out of five allegations of the Ogoni people against the oil company. Although Shell blames the oil pollution to sabotage, activists say the case could set a precedent for damage claims related to the foreign activities of multinational companies.

On Monday, 8 June Royal Dutch Shell, Europe’s largest oil producer, reached a 15.5 million dollar settlement in a lawsuit brought against it by the families of the nine Nigerian activists who were killed in 1995. The lawsuit, which was brought to a New York court under the US Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA), accused Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary of complicity in the hanging and the killings or persecution of the environmental activists.

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International Financial Law

International Financial Law is a framework of rules, standards and practices that govern international financial markets and transactions. The objective of this framework is to create international financial stability. This stability has to be created in an environment of national jurisdictions, each pursuing their own national interest and governance standards, and is constantly threatened by the consequenses of increasing globalization, technological development and financial innovation.